"Only ye shall not eat the blood; ye shall pour it
upon the earth as water."(Deuteronomy 12:16)
"I will even set my face against that soul that eateth blood
...
for the life of the flesh is in the blood."
(Leviticus 17:10-11)
Old Testament

"Drink, for this is my blood..."
(John 6:54, 56-57)
New Testament

SAH/ssv-40416
The Heritage
Rhesus 2
Group of spiritualist items donated to the Curator as a
supplement to the vampire killing kit.
The goblet and the nail were found by the Surnateum team in the ruins
of a farm in Ballod.

For the attention of the Curator of the Surnateum
Brussels, 31 January 1992

Dear Mr Chelman,
Please find enclosed the information I promised you regarding my
ancestor from a collateral branch of the family, Bishop Van Rechem, as well as
other bits and pieces of information that I have been able to glean.
All of the Van Rechems come from the same family line, but the story
of Eugenius I only learned from my mother and grandmother, who is nearly
100 years old. The other members of the family do not seem to know
anything about it, or do not want to talk about it. My grandmother will
certainly live to see her 100th birthday in 1999; she's as fit as a
fiddle. She was born the very year that the doctor took his trip and is
in excellent health.
Another strange coincidence?
Ange Urbain Van Rechem, my grandfather, died on 8 December 1963 at the
age of 68, worn out from his life of work. I remember that it was a Sunday,
because we had just celebrated what was a very grim St Nicholas' Day (6
December).
Although I was only six years old at the time, I remember it like it
was yesterday.
His bakery was located at no. 58, Rue des Tongres in Brussels. The bakery is no longer there; that space is now
occupied by a leather goods shop, I think.
I hope that what follows will be useful to you in your efforts to find
out more about the 'Schlemihl' phenomenon.
I would ask you not to mention my surname openly so as not to embarrass
my daughter, who is a student at a Catholic school in Brussels.
Of course, I would be intrigued by any subsequent discoveries you make
and would ask you to keep me abreast of your progress.

Yours sincerely,

Until I was 30 years old, I had never heard of my great-great-uncle Eugenius van Rechem.
On my maternal grandfather's side, the family history seems to have been
swallowed up in the mists of time.
Nevertheless, through painstakingresearch I managed to find out some
information.
Eugenius van Rechem (1858-1943) was the deputy to the bishop at St Bavo Cathedral in Ghent. A renowned theologian, he had many
accomplishments to his name, including the creation of an order of Sisters of Mary,
and was - due to his position - the guardian of the world-famous
painting The Adoration of the Mystic Lamb (by the Brothers Van Eyck)
as well as the relics and treasures at the cathedral. These include
the head of John the Baptist, which was given to Salome.
Or it could be one of his heads, since one can never be too sure where
relics are concerned...
A learned man, he devoted a good part of his life to studying the
origins of Christianity and its links with the 'pagan' rites from which
Christianity borrowed liberally.
He also studied ancient Biblical prophecies, and the Medieval legend
of the Fisher Kings, as well as the history of the Cathars, the Knights
Templar and their 'mission' in the Holy Land.
He was even interested in spiritualist heresy, because certain common
techniques had their uses.
One day in 1914, he heard the confession of one of his friends, who we
will call 'Pieter Schlemihl' - as is only fitting given the confidential
nature of the confessional.

Schlemihl, a doctor and blood specialist in Ghent, told him about
the strange adventure that had taken him to the borders of Hungary - and
the consequences thereof.
Although at first he didn't believe Schlemihl's tale, he was shown all the evidence that
authenticated the story and led to Schlemihl's damnation: the suitcase and the wax cylinders holding a recording of the
hunter's account of the events that had transpired.
Slowly, his view of Christianity changed, and this was accompanied by
a certain feeling of unease. Particularly when he contacted the
archaeologist who had first discovered the Pannonian tomb.
Here, of course, we are talking about the Roman province of Pannonia.
But I digress...

He was looking for the tomb of a major Biblical figure whose
life had come to an end somewhere near the far reaches of the Roman Empire in the 1st
century AD.
The tomb of Pontius Pilate, the Roman procurator who sentenced Christ
to die on the cross.
According to an apocryphal text, the Mors Pilati cited by the
Christian historian Eusebius (4th century),
he was exiled to Vienne, in France (or to the town that has become
modern-day Vienne), where he is said to have committed suicide.
After the discovery of Troy by the German billionaire Schliemann a
few years earlier, certain amateur archaeologists no longer hesitated to
place their trust in legends while carrying out their excavations.
After carrying out fruitless searches at Pilate lake, near the city of Vienne (in the Dauphiné
province of France), and in Switzerland at the mountain
of the same name (whose summit is also home to a lake), he ended up in
Austria-Hungary, between what are now the cities of Vienna (known as Vindobona
in Roman times) and Budapest. During the excavation work, he discovered
that, within a radius of 60 km around a given point, all of the bodies
buried in tombs dating from the 14th to 18th centuries had a crucifix
placed on the forehead or chest.
It was as if a local superstition sought to protect them from something or
someone. Some skeletons had also had a coin placed between their teeth -
to prevent them from chewing, or so the legend goes.
At a spot almost exactly at the centre of this circle is an isolated
Roman Pannonian tomb dating from the 1st or 2nd century AD. From
this tomb came the objects, the jaw and fibulae which would later
persuade the doctor to undertake his quest for the vampire.
As Governor of Judaea, Pilate is said to have owed his position to the
'imperial' stock of his wife Claudia Procula
(the illegitimate daughter of Claudia, wife of Emperor Tiberius (Tiberius Julius Caesar:
emperor from 19 August 14 AD to 16
March 37 AD), and granddaughter of Emperor Augustus). It was she who,
according to the Bible (Matthew 27:19), was warned by a dream not to get mixed up
with "that man", a certain Jesus of Nazareth, and who warned
her husband. He should have listened to her.
Pilate was procurator of Judaea from 26 to 36 AD, until the end
of the reign of Tiberius.
His exile seems a strange sort of punishment by Rome. Of course, Rome
survives to this very day under the shelter of the Vatican.
Was the Pannonian tomb his? We will never know, but, as strange as it
might seem, that would explain the origin of the first vampire in the
Western tradition.
As Jesus was being beaten, Pilate was splashed with his blood.
Did he ingest some accidentally or out of mockery? It doesn't really
matter. Panicked by the transformation he felt happening within him, he
hurriedly washed his hands to cleanse himself of the curse associated
with the decision for which he was responsible. The Bible is quite clear
on this matter.
"I am innocent of the blood of this just person", Pilate
said.
To which the crowd of Jews replied: "His blood be on us and on
our children." (Matthew 27:24-25)
Other figures, such as the Wandering Jew, were cursed for taking part
in the murder.
After the crucifixion, he was responsible for several massacres
committed against the Jews. He was never released from the bloody
madness. His story is reminiscent of another historical figure who is also associated with
this adventure, and who also ended up committing suicide. I do not need to
remind you that the Nazi parades - the 'brown plague' - bore a striking
resemblance to the movements of Roman troops, or that the blood of Christ
really did fall on the Jewish people. Or that Rome and Italy sided with
the Nazis.
The reader might find it interesting that there is lakes named after Pilate
can be found in both
Switzerland and France, and that at both lakes it is forbidden to throw
anything in them for fear of unleashing a hideous tempest - a
power attributed to vampires.
The blood of the just, the blood of the prophets, the blood of the Alliance (Matthew 26:
28 and Mark 24:26), the innocent blood (Mathew 27:4), the price of
blood, the field of blood, "this is my blood which is shed for you".
Blood plays a major role in the Bible.
The vampire's fear of the crucifix is a reminder of the first mistake.
The vampire does not react to other symbols from different religions.
It would be a strange - but strangely logical - theory if, like Arminius Vámbéry,
we were to interpret history from a magical point of view - from the point of
view of the sacred.
I agree with the fact that the first vampire myths are of Assyro-Babylonian
origin, but the baital of India, the vampire, is more a
storyteller and initiator. At least in the story in which he is
associated with
King Vikram and his son.
You may well tell me that references to vampires date back to the dusk
of time, that vampires are not reflected in mirrors because they have no
soul, and that the soul is the daena,
the mirror of Zoroastrian and Mazda myths.
We mustn't forget that Christianity is closely associated with these
myths.
But the vampire, as we know him in the West, is a 'superstition'
associated specifically with Christianity.
End of parenthetical statement.

In January 1933, with Hitler's arrival in power, Eugenius
Van Rechem received confirmation that the confession he had heard all
those years ago was actually true and the reality was stark indeed.
He was also aware of the secret which had lurked within Christianity
for nearly 2000 years, overshadowing knowledge that was even stranger and
infinitely more magical.
He divined the presence of obscure forces struggling to gain control
of the absolute and demented power of the Roman Catholic Church. He then
set about looking for a way to destroy the evil spreading around the
world.
Eliminating the creature would require the use of extraordinary,
supernatural weapons.
He called on the help of one of his English colleagues by the name of Montague Summers,
the author of several books on vampires and vampirism (including The Vampire:
His Kith and Kin and The Vampire in Europe), who confirmed his fears.
Generally speaking, the vampire is tied to his land; he cannot
leave his territory for long. Pontius Pilate
took advantage of the enormous size of the Roman Empire;
Hitler too sought out his Lebensraum. It is worth noting that
Hitler virtually never left Germany before the war - except to go to Italy.
The vampire, supported by the powers of darkness (including the Thule
secret society), had found in Fascism a previously unimaginable means of spreading
his power beyond his normal confines.
The demon dagger was no longer a strong enough weapon to fight the
legions of the night. Something else had to be found.
Six years later, in 1939, the bishop found the 'solution' in another
myth associated in part with Christianity, but by then it was too late. Too old
and knowing that he would soon be dead, he was unable to find anyone
strong enough to carry on his work. Moreover, the 'remedy' had to be retrieved from
a place located in enemy territory.
Towards the end of his life, just before the start of the Second World
War, he sent for his nephew Ange Urbain, my grandfather,
a good man who earned his living as a baker in Brussels. He had a large family
and, due to his job, was likelier than most to survive the war. Van
Rechem gave him a trunk containing objects left behind by the doctor,
as well as the findings of his incomplete research. He was instructed to
ensure that this legacy was handed down to his first grandson once said
grandson reached the age of 30. But he was not to tell anyone about the
secret unless that person was directly involved. Perhaps this way there
would still be time to continue the fight.
Unfortunately, my grandfather confided in Father Abel,
a priest who was close to our family.
Not long afterwards, Father Abel died in a mysterious motorcycle
accident.
Eugénius van Rechem passed away in 1943. He is buried in the
crypt in St Bavo Cathedral in Ghent, amongst precious relics and
religious treasure, thus ensuring him post-mortem protection since
vampires would never be able to get him there. His portrait hangs in
the galleries and you will find a slab marking his grave in the cellar.
Did he believe in the transmigration of souls or did he have another
idea in mind?
Frankly, I haven't got a clue! He left behind a riddle which could well
change the course of history. If you can solve it, then perhaps
you'll find the weapon that can be used to annihilate the legions of
the night or to give you the spiritual power to combat them.
Hitler died on 30 April 1945, at least that's the official story.
But is that reason enough to call off the hunt?
Does the hunt have just one purpose?
Has the scourge really been stopped, or is it re-emerging elsewhere?
I still remember something enigmatic my grandfather once said: "The
Guardians are watchful."

Eugenius Van Rechem's suitcase
and box are now in our possession.
They were the starting point for our quest.
You are already familiar with the contents of the suitcase, so let's
talk about the box.
It is a wooden writing desk (also called a secretaire) dating from the early 20th century.

The item contains several objects: a purse containing a louis d'argent
(a strange coin depicting a griffin protecting a treasure),
a small bronze figure that looks like a pilgrim,
the equipment needed to test a medium's capabilities, a map of the Wolmar
Circle, a document dating from 1821, books by Allan Kardec on spiritism,
photographs and other items added by Ange Urbain Van Rechem.
From the correspondence (see below) with a genealogist,
we deduced that all of these objects were concealing the path to a
mythical treasure and forbidden knowledge, but that we would face many
trials and tribulations if we sought to go after it.
We had to gain entry to the shadowy realms on the other side of
the looking-glass, beyond appearances, in a haunted limbo somewhere between reason and
madness. We had to enter a magical world to which our society
had long ago lost the key in the name of Holy Science; a universe in
which only certain shamans and sorcerers are still able to travel, for
there is always the risk of becoming lost and never finding your way
out.
Of course, the name of Wolfram von Eschenbach, which you will find in
Appendices I and III, was an assumed name chosen by the new Guardian.
It was the name of an initiate and it gave us a clue to follow.
On 6 June 1992, with mixed feelings of fear and curiosity, we
attempted to pass through the first forbidden portal. The date was
chosen with our tongues planted firmly in cheek.
The medium who agreed to help us was a young lady of 22, a member of
the Surnateum who had passed all the tests. We would like to take this
opportunity to thank her for her contribution.
'Possession' is a very impressive experience to watch. The medium
really gives the impression that she is physically changing and an
amazing feeling of cold invades the room. It is essential to have
personal objects on hand that are associated with the spirit
being invoked. But perhaps that is just an illusion?
Darkness is essential so that the medium is not distracted by
anything, and so that she can concentrate during the exhausting session.
The items used in the experiment were placed on the Museum's enormous
oak Ouija board.
She carefully moved the small bronze figure through the pitfalls represented by the labyrinth in the 'Wolmar Circle'. A single misstep
would be punished by madness.
We formed a group around her and attempted to answer the riddles posed
by the spirit thus invoked.
We ended up discovering where the treasure was hidden in Ballod, in
the Wolmar Circle.
The experiment report is given below.
Consult the Appendices for more information.

Pursuant to your request dated 7 April 1992, we have analysed the
documents pertaining to the Wolmar Circle, as well as the notarial deed
dated 2 September 1821. The deed was apparently written by Wolfram Von Eschenbach
himself, a man whose reputation as an adventurer would be hard to
exaggerate.
We can therefore safely assume that the deed conceals an encrypted
message. Unfortunately, the task of decrypting the message does not fall
within our remit.

Born in Ballod in 1765 to Ludwig Eschenbach, a carpenter, and Ilse Kundry,
the young Wolfram left home to find his fortune in the Netherlands and
France, where, in Dieppe, he joined the Astrolabe, the ship he would later captain. (He added the von in front
of his surname so that he would be more closely identified with the
author of Parsifal. He was christened Karl Maria, but later adopted Wolfram
as his first name.)

In 1807, he sailed in the company of Robert Surcouf, the celebrated
French corsair (1773-1827). From February 1808 to March 1812, we have no
information at all as to what happened in the life of 'Wolfram
Von Eschenbach'. In March 1812, having made his fortune, he left his
ship and retired to his impressive manor farm in Ballod.

You may be interested in a brief legend connected with this story:

Towards the end of his career as a privateer, he is said to have mortally
wounded the last Fisher King (the mythical guardian of the Grail and the
Spear of Longinus ). He solemnly promised to hide these precious
treasures in an inviolable sanctuary.
The only evidence supporting this story is the copper token you
found with the map, dated 1663 and bearing the image of a griffin
sitting on a box, the symbol of the guardian of a treasure.

Wolfram Von Eschenbach died on 5 April 1822 from typhoid fever.
He left behind a vast fortune but no known heir.

The beginning of the invocation was not recorded properly, as if a
magnetic disturbance damaged the tape. The salutations and initial invocations
are missing.

(inaudible)... Wolfram...
(inaudible) . . . you must not ever go near the sea ... (inaudible).
The pilgrim travels from east to west, from south to north, but never
crosses a corner of the map...
(pause)Comment: Move forward, backward, left or right - never diagonally.

"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Only one will be chosen
from amongst the many. Choose wisely the threshold of your departure."Comment: The pilgrim's voyage begins by learning the divine numbers.
Place the pilgrim on one of the numbered sections of the map. (pause)

A) "For your first voyage, your number will guide you."Comment: Move it the same number of sections as the number written in
the square whence you came.
(pause)

"7 is the number of a master, not a seeker,
too bad for he who dares lie down there."Comment: If you are not on section 7, then you are on the right track.
This magic number represents the first trap in the initiation. Place a
silver coin on this section.
You must not touch it again under any circumstances.
(pause)

If your intentions are pure, the spirit will help you through the
different stages. The pilgrim will never be destroyed by money. (pause)

B) "What do you seek? The GRAIL or the ILLUSION? Your pilgrim
knows the answer."Comment: The pilgrim is moved 5 times, the number of the traveller or
companion, the symbol of quintessence. (pause)

"Be gone the 4, your physical self is no more."
Place a coin on section 4. If the pilgrim is on it, then your voyage
stops here. You are close to Erkshire,
a dangerous place.
(pause)

C) "PERCEVAL, MORDRED or GALAHAD we hail. Who is the knight of the
Holy Grail?"Comment: Move the pilgrim according to the number of letters in the
chosen name. NOTE: Mordred is not a knight of the Grail. Your adventure
has led you to your first decision: light or dark?
(pause)

"Dead-end 8, if you are here it's far too late."
Place a coin on section 8. If it crushes the pilgrim then your
indecision means you are not worthy of continuing.
(pause)

D) "The Holy Trinity shall be your guiding sun."Comment: The pilgrim visits 3 sections of the map, for 3
derives from 2.
The Trinity forms once more.
(pause)

"Your road shall end on 9 and 1."
Eliminate sections 1 and 9 by placing a coin on each one. This time,
the ends no longer connect. (pause)

E) "Three men on horseback then arrive; take 3 more steps and you
shall thrive."
"Lightness and Dark.Comment: The pilgrim moves three more times.
(pause)

"You've passed by 2 and now have gone."
You have just crossed section 2, but you are no longer there.
Eliminate it by placing a silver coin on it. You will no longer land
on it.
If the pilgrim was on it, you will join infernal limbo, for you are no
longer worthy of pursuing the quest.

F) "Only one man shall towards the relic run; God decrees that you
move one."Comment: Move the pilgrim one last time and only one section. (pause)

"Apprentice and companion behind you shall leave; for 3 and 5
there's no reprieve." Eliminate sections 3 and 5.
The descendants of Joseph d'Arimathie hid no treasure there.

G) "6 and G they are akin, be my guest at Ballod inn."
"A welcome gift awaits you there; it harks from Constantinople
fair"

Comment: Actually, the relic is hidden at the manor farm of Ballod,
Wolfram's domain.
In section 6, where you are right now. Because the pilgrim... is you.
I will now place a souvenir from Constantinople underneath this section.
It will help you find the exact hiding place in my manor.
Once you have it, you will become the new guardian, the new Fisher King.
This is no mean responsibility. Perhaps one day, a living being will
invoke your spirit.
Go forth in peace.

(End of transcript)

(inaudible)
(inaudible)
(inaudible,

Wolfram...

you must not ever go near the sea ... The pilgrim travels from east
to west, from south to north, but never crosses a corner of the map...
(pause)
"Abandon all hope, ye who enter here. Only one will be chosen from
amongst the many. Choose wisely the threshold of your departure."
For your first voyage, your number will guide you.
7 is the number of a master, not a seeker,
too bad for he who dares lie down there....
What do you seek? The GRAIL or the ILLUSION? Your pilgrim knows the
answer.
Be gone the 4, your physical self is no more.
PERCEVAL, MORDRED and GALAHAD we hail. Who is the knight of the Holy Grail?
The right name will put you on the right track.
Dead-end 8; if you are here it's far too late.
The Trinity shall be your guiding sun.
Your road shall end on
9 and 1.
Three men on horseback then arrive; take 3 more steps and you shall
thrive.
Lightness and Dark.
You've passed by 2 and now have gone.
Only one man shall towards the relic run;
God decrees that you move one.
Apprentice and companion behind you shall leave, for 3 and 5 there is
no reprieve.
6 and G they are akin, be my guest at Ballod inn.
A welcome gift awaits you there. It harks from Constantinople.
fair

Having arrived on site, we commenced digging. After a few days, we discovered a
rotting box containing a small blue glass goblet in the shape of a
cornucopia, along with a very old and rusty nail.
We easily identified the nail by comparing it to a relic provided by
the church of the Holy Cross in Jerusalem. They were very similar in
shape and size, but where the reliquary contained a model of a
Crucifixion Nail made around 1860, the one we found was 2000 years old.
We found an ancient canticle sung at Carpentras in 1875 during the
procession of the Holy Bit (one of the Crucifixion Nails and a bit
from an emperor's horse), the first words of which are:

"Oh Holy Nail, our only hope!
Arm of the strong, a sign of salvation.
We kneel down to call upon you!
By virtue of this venerable Nail,
This Holy Bit you have bequeathed to us,
Halt our sinful desires,
Let the Dragon be overcome again!"

From our point of view, this was reminiscent of Arminius Vámbéry's
advice about the phurba, and does not really require any comment, since
the dragon and the vampire are closely linked.
What surprises us is the word 'again' in the last line. Had there been other
battles in the past?

According to experts, the goblet may have come from a tomb in the area
around Tyr (Lebanon) and dates from the beginning of the common era.
Yet another example of how Rome has defied time. The goblet was dug up long ago
(around
the year 1000) by the Guardians of the Temple.
After the fall of the Temple and the martyrdom of its last Grand
Master,
Jacques de Molay, the goblet was entrusted to a secret order of
Guardians called the Fisher Kings to protect it from human greed.
The Knights Templar, like the Assassins of the Old Man of the
Mountain, Ibn-Al-Sabbah,
had more than one thing in common: they were both called guardians of
the faith. ('assassin' derives from the word assais, guardian of
the faith, not from hashishians as some have claimed.)
They had similar roles in Christianity and Islam, respectively.
The Guardians infiltrated most of the esoteric orders over the
centuries, including the Order of the Dragon, the Free Masons and the Rose+Croix,
so that they could encode within the various initiation rituals the
keys making it possible to decode and reactivate the secret of the
Grail.
They are still hidden today, in the rituals of second degree Masonry,
the ritual for the rank of 'companion', during which the letter 'G' is
discovered in the blazing star, so that the word will not be lost
forever.
Could this small blue goblet be the Holy Grail?
Was this what we were looking for?
Nobody has ever seen the Holy Grail. The word 'grail' comes from gradalis,
degrees, representing initiation to the mysteries.
It is the instrument of redemption or the instrument of the
annihilation of the human race.
According to the Medieval works of Chrétien de Troyes,
Robert de Boron and Wolfram von Eschenbach, it may have been a stone
that fell from Lucifer's forehead, a book, a cup, a vague cloud, a mirror or any
number of other things. Some think it is a vase or even a platter.
The Grail is associated with Celtic magic cauldrons, the Persian Xvarnah, baetyls
and stones fallen from the heavens and the cornucopias of the ancients
Greeks and Romans. The goat Amalthea in Greek mythology, from whom we
have the
cornucopia,
has taken her place amongst the stars under the sign of Capricorn. This sign
is directly linked to the Grail, for the perilous seat of
the Knight of the Grail (Perceval or Galahad) is found at this location
of the Round Table and because this was the one astrological sign in Antiquity through which man
could join the gods.
In any case, it certainly must resemble the goblet we found more than
any other vessel.
The cornucopia (horn of plenty) is a highly spiritual treasure; this
object is simply its external manifestation. It is essential in the
initiation of the warrior of Light, as discussed by Professor Arminius Vámbéry
during his meeting with Pieter
Schlemihl.
The Nail and the Cup are two relics associated with the Holy Blood; two
priceless instruments. But which knight - which warrior - were they meant
for?
Another relic, the Spear of Longinus, was tracked down by Adolf
Hitler, who had it seized it during the Anschluss (the 1938 invasion of Austria).
It too could have been a formidable weapon in the hands of his
opponents, which is why Hitler was so keen to hide it in Nuremberg.
The Collector reminded me that there used to be another formidable
weapon used to combat vampires and that it had, at one time, been in the
possession of the Surnateum.
But that is another story.

Other aspects of the Bible intrigued us. While Jews vehemently reject
the consumption of blood, Christians have just the opposite attitude.
Did not Christ
say: "Drink, for this is my blood."
The Church, which transmits the message of Christ, is the Church of
Peter, or more accurately Paul, who, it is generally agreed, sold out to the Romans. It
was in the Roman Catholic Church that the blood of Christ because the
blood of the New Alliance.
The true heir of the original teachings of the Essenians, the Church
of James, the brother of Christ, the true esoteric Essenian Church,
was persecuted and exterminated by Rome over the centuries.
This becomes clear if one studies the history of the Cathars, Bogomils,
Templars and the Inquisition. There is more than one skeleton in the Vatican's
closet.
This is also why the bishop did not entrust his precious
testimonies and research findings to the Roman Catholic Church.
What really happened during the flagellation
and crucifixion?
Through our quests we found, among other things, the reliquary
containing the relics of Saint Timothy (the bishop of Ephesus, who died
in 97 AD), Saint Paul's favourite disciple. The Tibetan demon
mirror reacts in the same way in the presence of his bones as it does
when presented with the contents of a vampire's grave.

So, was Pontius Pilate the first vampire? It could make sense.
He was sidelined by Rome and sent to the very edge of the Empire. And he ended up killing himself - or so the legend goes.
What other vampires have there been? Perhaps Emperor Constantine, Robespierre, Erzébeth Bathory, Genghis Khan, Lenin,
Stalin? How many have there been?
Who will the next one be?
So many questions, so many riddles to solve! So much evidence to find.
I recently opened a Bible to the Book of Revelations.
Now a shiver runs down my spine when I read certain passages:
" ... I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for
the word of God, and for the testimony which they held." (Revelations 6:9).
And then: "... and the moon became as blood... " (Revelations 6:12) "...
and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood... and the third
part of the sea became blood."
Who will find us first, the Guardians or the others?
I will leave you now, for someone is ringing at the gate...